Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/782964
16 commercial carrier journal | february 2017 JOURNAL NEWS • Final implementation of the Unified Registration System for existing carriers to use for their biannual updates, name changes and transfers of authority has been delayed again, this time indefinitely. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will issue a notice early this year to announce the revised implementation dates. It had been set to take effect Jan. 14. The first phaseof the URS – for new carriers only – was launched in December 2015. • The random drug test rate for truck opera- tors will remain 25 percent this year, mean- ing carriers will be required to randomly test 25 percent of their drivers, including leased owner-operators. For 2016, FMCSA lowered the testing rate from 50 to 25 percent due to three consecutive calendar years (2011-13) of drug testing data showing the positive rate for controlled substances was less than 1 percent. • American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear is a member of a new U.S. Department of Transportation committee aimed at guiding the emergence and deployment of autono- mous vehicle technologies. The 25-person Committee on Automation is co-chaired by General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. • Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) will chair the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee's subcommittee that focuses on surface transportation and infrastruc- ture. Fischer introduced a bill in 2015 that required FMCSA to better justify new regula- tions before enacting them. She successfully attached the legislation to the 2015-passed FAST Act. • Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers had 745 fatal work injuries in 2015, the most workplace fatalities of all occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Roadway work-related fatalities were up 9 percent in 2015 over 2014 to 1,264, and 629 of these fatalities involved a semi, tractor- trailer or tanker truck. The total of 4,836 workplace fatalities in 2015 was the highest since 5,214 were recorded in 2008. • Schneider National (CCJ Top 250, No. 8), the nation's largest privately owned car- rier, filed an application in late December with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering to trade Class B common stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The Green Bay, Wis.-based company would trade under the ticker symbol SNDR. • Daseke Inc. (CCJ Top 250, No. 42) andHennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. entered into a merger agreement toallow Daseke to become a Nasdaq-listed public company. The Addison, Texas-basedopen- deck transportation and logistics pro- viderplans toadd more companies to its family,provide stock ownership plans for all employees and support organic growth by acquiring new equipment. • Maverick USA (CCJ Top 250, No. 76) acquired Marine Transport Inc., an Au Gres, Mich.-based dedicated boat hauling com- pany with 25 tractors and 80 trailers that services a manufacturer of luxury pontoon boats and runabouts. INBRIEF 2/17